The Year Ahead: The Rise Of Cloud And All Things Virtual

By Jarrett Potts, director of strategic marketing for STORServer

In 2012, we saw the rise of cloud and all things virtual and the fall of budgets. While the latter is of no surprise as all businesses, corporations, and individuals are tightening their belts just to survive, the first two have been brewing for some time and seem to have gained some serious traction in 2012.

Cloud

In 2012, we saw everything from service desks to storage head to the cloud. The marketing people really did their jobs because the industry is abuzz with everything cloud. While the concept of the cloud is not really new, the concept that anyone can have a cloud is. In 2013, you will start to see some real adoption by the marketplace. By that I mean small to medium-sized customers (not just the big boys) will embrace it. The thing about cloud is that it has been hard for people and consumers to understand the concept of a cloud offering. That has changed as 2012 comes to a close. I have started to see cloud be offered as a pool of items where sales people say they can do it locally or in the cloud as if it were something tangible. Why will cloud gain traction in 2013? Simply put: simplicity. The easier to explain, use and manage, the more adoption you will see. With the advances that were made this year, 2013 should be a banner year for cloud offerings.